Trump's Initial Unreasonable Demand of Ukrainian Natural Resources

The idea of Ukraine sharing its natural resources with the US, originated by Senator Graham, is genius. It removes many frictions for supporting Ukraine. However, I have an issue with Trump's original demand for the following two reasons:

  • Trump initially demanded that President Zelenskyy sign a piece of paper to give the US 50% of the revenue from many natural resources, which could amount to $500B or more. Trump claimed that the U.S. spent $350 billion on assistance for Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent provides a detailed breakdown of the aid provided. Pentagon's official number is $183B:
    • $52.6B financial/humanitarian aid, the most authentic aid.  
    • $69.8B military aid largely for purchasing US weapons.
    • $58B for the US defense industry.

The US aid is substantial, but a big chunk is in the form of US weapons including surplus and decommissioned weapons. The European aid to Ukraine is $151B. It has to be hard for those of us who have been for years criticizing the PRC for its BRI projects that lend money from its left pocket to its right pocket, then demand the aided country to pay the debt or cede their resources to argue Trump is less predatory than the CCP. The CCP at least claims upfront that the money is a loan, though much of it is to buy PRC's products and services. The US did not claim the aids were loans, but they were grants. Now, Trump wants Ukraine to pay back multiple times the grants.

  • Most importantly, the US has already got a big bargain from Ukrainians shedding their blood to fight the new Axis of Evil, the US' current primary enemy, without costing American lives (except for some brave US volunteers). The free world owes a great deal to Ukraine, not the other way. That is why I go to Ukraine to pay my debt to them every year since the war started. It will be my 4th trip soon.
National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, Kyiv
Up to 5 million Ukrainians were starved to death (13% of the population)



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